Year of the Tiger off to roaring start at parade

Fate Carroll, 8, of Corning watches along Market Street during the Chinese New Year Parade on Saturday in San Francisco.

Fate Carroll, 8, of Corning watches along Market Street during the Chinese New Year Parade on Saturday in San Francisco.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

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Fate Carroll, 8, of Corning watches along Market Street during the Chinese New Year Parade on Saturday in San Francisco.

Fate Carroll, 8, of Corning watches along Market Street during the Chinese New Year Parade on Saturday in San Francisco.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

Year of the Tiger off to roaring start at parade

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The Year of the Tiger is said to be explosive and unpredictable.

And the San Francisco Chinese New Year Parade - packed with people, eye-popping sights and crackling sounds - seemed a fitting way to kick it off.

Thousands jammed the streets of downtown San Francisco to celebrate the Lunar New Year in anticipation of a year of prosperity. Despite the potential for volatility, most said they hoped to ride out the year with success.

"I'm hoping this year is a good year and better than the last economically," said Tuan Tran, 36, from San Jose.

The parade - a whirlwind of colorful dancers, festive floats and marching bands all punctuated by thunderous firecrackers - drew a mixture of veterans and first-timers eager to take in the show.

Gary Wilbanks drove from Sonoma with his 12-year-old twin boys and wife to finally see in person what he's watched on TV for so many years. He said he enjoys parades but that it's hard to compare others to the Chinese New Year Parade.

"This is a lot different, just the size of it, the number of people," Wilbanks said. "It's exciting."

Alessandro Baccari, 81, and his wife, Catherine, 80, have been coming to the parade since 1958 and have missed it just three times. Halfway through the spectacle, Catherine Baccari rated this year's as one of her favorites.

"This is one of the better days, with the weather, floats and the costumes," she said.

Alessandro Baccari, who helped form the Chinatown Historical Society and studied Chinatown in the 1960s while working at San Francisco State University, said the parade represents a chance to celebrate the work of Chinese Americans in the Bay Area.

"It's an opportunity to see the contributions of the Chinese building the West," he said. "They've done so much, it's their chance to sparkle."

For Chinese Americans, the parade is a cultural touchstone that helps connect them to their history and heritage. Jenni Y, 28, of San Mateo brought her two daughters to the parade to let them understand some of their culture and just to have some fun.

"We don't do a lot of Chinese things at home so this is one of the last cultural Chinese things we do," she said. "And it's fun with the firecrackers and being in the city at night."

Rosy Chu, a longtime community-affairs director at KTVU, which broadcasts the parade, said that as much as the parade celebrates Chinese culture, she's just as excited to see the way non-Chinese have embraced the parade.

"It's just wonderful to see this so mainstream and everyone is celebrating with us," she said. "The people in the parade are not just Asian, it's multiethnic. It's wonderful."

The parade, which dates back to the 1860s, is the largest of its kind, according to organizers, attracting an audience of 3 million people live and on television.

Tigers took center stage this year, with children marching in tiger outfits, gigantic tigers growling from floats and bands playing "Eye of the Tiger." About the only tiger not welcome was Tiger Woods and his recent bad fortune.

"We'll do 100 percent better than Tiger (Woods) this year," said Apollo Madayag, a 40-year-old San Francisco teacher. "We've already hit rock bottom economically so now we need to be like the Rocky movie and have the eye of the tiger."